ARCHIVE. (eight bankers boxes)
Lynne Lawner Archive, ca. 1950s-Present
Overview:
After a brief visit, I would say that the strengths of the archive appear to be in Lawner’s own manuscript material (early poetry typescripts through current work); early correspondence (mostly with family but includes incoming and outgoing, thoroughly documenting her life as a student and expatriate); and journals kept over the course of several decades. (Note: while the journals record everyday life and certainly add context, it should be noted that they don’t really focus on writing. The early correspondence – incoming and outgoing – though seems to compensate for that, from what I could tell. Everything is bundled in envelopes so there was a limit to what I could get through, but my instinct is that the correspondence has some good stuff - she had relationships with writers and intellectuals all over, so between her letters home and then exchanges with those other contacts, there's a pretty good snapshot of the period.)
Lawner describes her life abroad as very vibrant intellectually and she considers it unique in that she transitioned from an American poet in the 1950s-60s into a translator living in Rome where she was affiliated with the Communist party and a myriad of intellectuals while living with her Italian lover; unfortunately I’m not sure that the material documents her important associations (she’d met everyone from Plath to Pound to de Beauvoir and Sartre), her relationships generally, or her political activism. What it does record would seem to be her own life as a female writer and intellectual in the U.S. and abroad, particularly in the 1950s-80s.
Volume broken down by location:
• Manhattan apartment
o Approx. 52 inches of journals in bedroom, 1960s-80s
o Ten 34-inch file drawers in living room
♣ Includes scholarly notes and research on Troubadour love, origins of love in the West, the Courtesans, modern Italian poetry
o Seven 48-inch shelves in living room
♣ Two shelves of numbered binders containing journal printouts
♣ Research, notes, and other material related to various research and creative interests
♣ Shelf of manuscripts for collection of unpublished autobiographical prose poems titled “Portrait on a Table Cloth”
♣ Some correspondence, including with Italian scholars praising LL’s work
• Manhattan basement
o 27 bankers boxes (list below)
• Brooklyn
o Storage space with many boxes of books and roughly 40 boxes of other material
♣ Includes scholarly research and study papers for all theater material (e.g., for Harlequin on the Moon: Commedia dell’Arte and the Visual Arts, published in 1988)
• Italy
o Municipal Library in Todi is storing the books and papers of Lawner and her lover, a Leopardi scholar and Italian intellectual; she estimates 20-30 boxes but can check with curator there
Summary of material:
Journals
60+ journals, ca. 1956 to late-1980s (bulking 1970s-80s); multiple journals per year with each one covering several months; entries roughly every couple days and relatively consistent in nature; some days she added to the entry late in the day. Note: mid- or late-1980s forward notebooks were typed on computer and printed out up to a certain point – these are in numbered binders on living room shelves.
The journals follow the many places Lawner visits and lives, including Russia, Italy, France, Switzerland, Washington D.C., New York, Vienna, Capri, and Dayton, Ohio (“Tuesday I spent bronzing in my blue bikini. Very few people talked to me. What a change from Italy!” – Dayton, OH 1956). Content includes extremely descriptive accounts of her day, though not necessarily focusing on the events of the day, but rather her feelings and thoughts about them; her style is often abstract stream of consciousness: “All that matters is what we form ourselves, what we leave that was form” or “Food—it doesn’t taste good on the tongue. There is a prescription (prohibition?) against enjoyment?” Throughout, Lawner discusses seeing family, friends, and lovers (notably “Jaques”:‘“Jaques is threatening to leave me.’ Unreal sentence. Unreal situation. Price I pay for coming to Washington D.C. for two months…”); details conversations (e.g., “The three themes of our talk—love, friendship, suicide…”); gives opinions about people around her (e.g., “W. Roberta, my [all-too-temporary] assistant”); and records her daily interactions (“Raff. Martini—painter friend”).
While the journals add important context to the archive, there is little direct reference to Lawner’s own work; some of the abstract prose could be a build-up to the start of a book or poem but there are never titles. There is no reference to publishers or books coming out, just occasional mention of her inability to write: “…not writing the stories I should be writing.”
Correspondence
[Note: Pre-1970 – which included correspondence with Sylvia Plath, Edmund Wilson, John Crowe Ransom, and many others – was largely either lost in Rome or stolen.
Post-1970 – seems unlikely that there is much, or if there is, very sparse at best; LL reports a handful of publisher and agent correspondence that would be scattered throughout other files.]
Two bankers boxes of incoming and outgoing; bulking 1950s-60s; as follows:
“Letters written by LL” [with incoming also; basement box]
Bankers box full hundreds of LL’s and brother Mark’s outgoing letters to their parents, 1950s-60s; all in envelopes and tied in bundles. LL’s descriptive, lengthy letters describe school, life in Italy, England, New York, her health, daily interactions, writing, etc.; with incoming correspondence as well – one letter in Italian from Vanni Scheiwiller who got LL started on the courtesan research and writing which would figure importantly later in her career.
With letters from:
David Daiches
Dudley Fitts
Jorge Guillen (one letter)
Ruth Kennedy
Richard Wilbur
Henri Peyre at Yale
Salvatore Rosati in Italy
Curtis (?) at the Atlantic Monthly
“LL’s letters and documents – early years” [basement box]
Additional bundles of letters (maybe 100?) from LL and Mark to her family, 1950s-60s; together with numerous files containing early poetry manuscripts.
Manuscripts
At least two boxes containing early poetry typescripts for material included in Wedding Night of A Nun (1964) and Triangle Dream (1969); several file drawers of notes, research, and manuscript material for later work on the Provencal poets and Troubadour poetry, the courtesans, her translations of Italian poetry and Marxist literature, etc. Includes Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance (1986) and I Modi: The Sixteen Pleasures -- An Erotic Album of the Italian Renaissance (1989).
“LL’s letters and documents – early years [basement box; see above for mention of correspondence]
“Poetry 1950s-60 plus fiction” – notes and manuscripts [basement box]
“Gasparina – novel – #181” – notes and manuscripts for the unpublished novel [basement box]
“Bacchus” (seven boxes) – scholarly research, much of it annotated [basement box]
Additional basement boxes
Printed matter, photos, memorabilia, etc. in boxes labeled as follows:
“High School Photos”
“Wellesley Papers – Henry James Thesis – Italy first years – Souvenirs from European trip 1956, including photos”
“Books I Wrote” (two boxes) – printed material
“Fragile Gifts” – items wrapped in tissue
“Slides of Museum Exhibits” – mostly modern art
“Travel Misc” – magazines and newspapers
“Central Europe, Austria, #261”
“Central Europe, German, #262”
“Central Europe, Hungary, Czech Republic #264”
Central Europe #265 – History and Brochures”
“Central Europe #265-a” (ca. 2001?) – tapes
“My Travels – Germany 2001” – brochures, letters
“Travel Central Europe Box #333” – brochures
“Europe 2003” – ephemera (museum brochures), letter
Material from others
Colored crayon drawings / inscriptions by Spanish poet Rafael Alberti
Inscribed items – Giuseppe Ungaretti poetry
Drawing by Eugene Berman of the Ballet Russe
Print Inquire
